JAMB Literature in English 1993 Past Questions

This question is based on Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.
OBASEKI [from the auditorium]. For the peace of the land, obey him - Benin has had enough trouble!
[Roupe11 turns, feigning departure.]
CHIEF EZOMO [ urgently kneels before Ovonramwen]. Pray, my lord, do nothing to provoke him again!
IYASE [fervently beseeching] . Benin... think of Benin!
This dialogue became necessary because of Ovonramwem's

This question is based on Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.
'...Then, let her take another husband from among her own people. A woman without a man is like rich farm soil without the feel of roots.
beautiful woman without a man is a crab-over-protected by shells: selfish...'
This statement in the play refers to the

This question is based on Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.
In the play, the Oba's poetic language reveals his

This question is based on Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.
'...The python, seeking assurance of adulthood, measures his length with the palm tree ...
Who is referred to as the palm tree in these lines?

This question is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
The play reaches a turning point when

This question is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
It is dramatic irony that the 'castle which has a gentle air' happens to be the

This question is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
'The Prince of Cumberland!- That is a step
On which I must fall down, or else o' erleap,
For in my way it lies. Stars, hide your fires!
Let not light see my black and deep desires;...
Macbeth in this soliloquy refers to his secret longing to become the

This question is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
'Accursed be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man;
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,...
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope...'
The speech above was made when

This question is based on William Shakespeare's Macbeth.
'...Nay, had I power, I should
Pour the sweet milk of concord into hell,
Uproar the universal peace, confound
All unity on earth .'
The true intention of the speaker is to

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
'There where the need for good and ''the doing good'' conflict.'
In these two lines from Lenrie Peters' The Fence', the speaker says that

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
'... And the laughter or cannon, of thunder arraigns the multitude of wills in savage tutelage...'
In the context of these lines from Odia Ofeimun's
For Christopher Okigbo', misfortune was

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
'...And your MP with a shining head and triple chin Will mourn your fate in a supplementary question at Question Time'.
These lines in the context of Richard Ntiru's 'The Pauper', portray the MP as being

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
'But even he who sharpened the edge of hearts
Conceived new truths.
Telling us that truth is not truth of swords
But the long buds growing from the ruins.'
These lines suggest to us that Langula in Mazisi
Kunene's To the Soldier Hero', was more interested in

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
In' Sunset Sonata', the description 'To stones that strangle the dawn,'is used

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
'The cell is a cruel place, sometimes a haven
Nowhere as absolute as the grave.
The poetic device used in these lines from J.P. Clark's 'The Casualties' is

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
The impression created of life in Kofi Awoonor's
'Songs of Sorrow' is that of

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
T.S. Eliot's 'Journey of the Magi' could be side to examine the issue of

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
'The voice of my education 'in D.H. Lawrence's
'Snake' refers to

This question is based on selected poems from Wole Soyinka (ed.) poems of Black Africa, E.K. Senanu and T. Vincent (eds.) Selection of African poetry and E.W. Parker (ed.) A Pageant of Longer Poems.
In John Keats''Ode to a Nightingale, 'light-winged Dryad of the trees' refers to a

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
The theme of the novel is

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
'...How can I look at Oyo and say I hate long shiny cars? How can I come back to the children and despise international schools? And then Koomson comes, and the family sees Jesus Christ in him ...
The statement above reveals a feeling of

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
The title, The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born
implies that

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
The dominant images in the novel are those of

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
'' The old man himself does not believe in it
But when people see you doing something to get ahead, they become jealous and shout the slogans against you .''
What is being referred to in these lines?

This question is based on William Golding's Lord of the Flies.
Golding writes that the pig's skull ''regarded Ralph like one who knows all the answers and won't tell.''
This implies that

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
The destruction of the conch along with Piggy's death in the novel suggests

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
The main significance of the fire in the novel is to

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
The image of Beelzebub in the novel effectively captures the character of

This question is based on Ayi Kwei Armah's 'The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born.'
'' I could swim when I was five. Daddy taught me...
What's your father?''
''May dad's dead,'' he said quickly, ''and my mum...''
This dialogue is between

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
An insincere literary work is known as

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
A novel which depicts the adventures of the main character who is usually something of a rogue is a

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
'Now I fear disturbance of the quiet season Winter shall come bringing death from the sea
Ruinous spring shall beat at our doors
Root and shoot shall eat eyes and our ears'.
The dramatic technique employed in this passage is

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
In literature, a round character is associated with

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
A creative process in which abstract entities such as virtues and vices are used with intended double meaning is called

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
The technique used in bringing the plot of a play to an abrupt end is called

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
When words or phrases in either poetry or prose rise and fall measuredly, it is said that they

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
The ode and the elegy are examples of

This question is based on General Literary Principles.
A play that tells a single story, has one setting and takes place within a specified period is said to

This question is based on General Literary Principles. With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth,'
John Keats, 'Ode to a Nightingale'. The above lines are an example of

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'Still stand stubborn
To stones that strangle the dawn,
Still stand stubborn
To stones that maim the morn,
still stand stubborn
To stones that assail the sun'
Atukwei Okai, 'Sunset Sonata'
The dominant literary device employed in the above passage is

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'On the lower deck in the babel of two hundred voices he would forget himself, and beforehand live in his mind the sea life of light literature,.
Joseph Conrade Lord Jim
The character in the above passage is

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'The eyes of the house dog sprawled between my legs followed, full envy, piece after piece of fish down the throat of his master, my host.'
Ferdinand Oyono, Houseboy
The dog in the passage

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'My first interview with the manager was curious...
He was commonplace in complexion, in feature, in manners and in voice. He was of middle size and of ordinary build. His eyes, of the usual blue were perhaps remarkably cold, and he certainly could make his glance fall on one as trenchant and heavy as an axe'.
Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
In the passage above, the manager is described as being

This question is based on Literary Principles.
To stop himself from cutting off the sound in anger the man turned and just watched the fan, only just then another feeble, useless movement would happen and blades would be drawn through another arc. Only a long hour later did the noise finally stop - 4:30p.m
A.K Amah. The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born
In this passage, the writer

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'He sprung about the room in thick socks, from fridge to bread bin to table, where he buttered and chopped and sliced and sprinkled. Deft and efficient; lithe like a cat, or a ballet dancer'.
Georgina Hammick, Habits
The passage above suggests

This question is based on Literary Principles.'
Immersed in the great depression, they had kept their families together, kept their feet from touching bottom, and kept their faith in the future-their children's future more than their own
John Updike, Beech: A Book
In the above passage, ''Kept their feet from touching bottom'' suggests staying

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'Otto's wife was a potter. Nessa remembered Sandra. Davis telling hr this. Not just a wife, not just a mother- as Nesa's own mother had been, as all the women in her childhood were and were expected to be: cooks and floor scrubbers, fanatical table polishers and chairback starchers nest builders.'
Georgina Hammie, Habits
In the passage above, Otto's wife

This question is based on Literary Principles.
'In the cold hands of death...
his mouth was cotton filled, his brain on scales-was this a trick to prove fore-knowledge after death ?
Wole Soyinka: Post Mortem'
These two stanzas capture the

This question is based on Literary Principles.
''Virture in Russia as in his childhood, seemed something that arose from men, like a comforting body odour, rather than something from above that impaled the struggling soul like a moth on a pin.''
John Updike, Beech: A Book
The tone of the passage above is

This question is based on Ola Rotimi's Ovonramwen Nogbaisi.

What are the main motives of the British in the Beinin Kingdom?